


Look Like You Do In the Movies

by MercuryMapleKey



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Comfort, Fluff, Light Angst, Other, Reunions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-03
Updated: 2015-11-03
Packaged: 2018-04-29 17:33:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5136572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MercuryMapleKey/pseuds/MercuryMapleKey
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"But then it had been a long time, hadn’t it? Long enough that he’d forgotten the quiet essence that had made him love Waterfall regardless of its size. Or vivacity."</p><p>Mettaton takes a long overdue trip home to visit his loved ones. It.... doesn't really go as planned.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Look Like You Do In the Movies

**Author's Note:**

> Hahahah, wow these two are legitimately an otp. Based on in game information, I kind of got the impression that very very very few people actually know who Mettaton was before he was Mettaton, and I wont lie, I think about that a lot. So I ended up writing this little gem. 
> 
> I've only ever written for one other fandom before so this is kind of a foray into new territory! (Sort of. There's still robots). But anyways, be nice my ego's like a glass spiderweb.

               Waterfall had seemed like such a dismal place the first time he had left it. Dark, gloomy, and so very boring; it was filled only with wishes of those who couldn’t wait to get out and the discarded remnants of a better world that found their way in down the flow of the rivers. And rain. There was always a lot of rain.

Back in those days Waterfall had seemed endless, almost inescapable even. But now… Now it just looked so small. Everything in the underground was small. Waterfall had maybe a handful of houses in its entirety, and more echo flowers than monsters who could speak into them in a constant flux of dark and calm. It suffered nothing for its quiet monotony, however. He saw that now. In fact, the further Mettaton ventured into the gloomy stillness of the region the more he found the nostalgia in it.

               It had been his choice to return of course, as soon Alphys had finished the repairs to his lovely new body and not a moment later, but in a lot of ways it hadn’t felt like much of a choice at all. He had missed this place. And perhaps, he thought, he had been missing it all along since he’d left.

               Blooky was home. In truth, Blooky was almost always home if they weren’t tending to the snails. But Mettaton could hear the soft mix of music gently filtering through their window, as familiar a sound as it had ever been and it really was just too good to know that some things had stayed exactly the same. His own house stood beside Blooky’s, dark and silent and pink from top to bottom. Mettaton had considered visiting it first but… Well there were bound to be a lot of old memories locked behind those walls. And besides, he couldn’t keep a good fan waiting now could he? Or cousin, for that matter.

               Far beyond its rain, or its nostalgia, or its darkness, Waterfall had a distinct way of making even small things feel like milestones. Absurdly Mettaton almost hesitated before knocking on his cousin’s door. There was no answer, which he remembered belatedly to be uniquely typical – Napstablook either never heard or never bothered, but either way they never answered. Hardly a problem. Another cursory flourish of a knock and Mettaton simply opened the door himself with a wide swing of his arm and the grace of his smile.

               “Blooky! Guess who was in the neighbourhood and decided to stop by and pay you a proper visit!”

               Truth be told, he hadn’t expected Blooky to be quite so surprised by his entrance. Their headphones went clattering from their head to the ground as they faded and flickered in and out of permeability – a jump start response. Mettaton held his hand up to his face to hide his laughter from those big rounded eyes.

               “I’m sorry, darling. I didn’t mean to startle you.”

               “M… Mettaton…” If Blooky had a proper response it had died in their shock. They were staring at him now rather like they had just seen a ghost, which aside from the punchline was leaning a little left of the scenario Mettaton had hoped for. Admittedly it _had_ been a long time since he’d last been home… Leaving Blooky behind hadn’t been his best idea in the world...

               But it was never too late to make up for one’s mistakes. “I wanted to see you dear,” he smiled again, and it was practiced but not pressured. “You’re not going to make me walk all the way back to Hotland now, are you?”

               If it were at all possible Blooky’s eyes widened further. They looked around their bleak little house – almost exactly the same as he’d remembered it as well, maybe even drearier – and then back to Mettaton as if they were concerned. Or confused. What on earth was there to be confused about?

               “No… No, you can stay… if you want to, Mettaton…” It had never been particularly easy to decipher what Blooky was thinking at any given moment. They hovered backwards a short distance, until they had almost collided with their desk and Mettaton was certain the mumbling that followed wasn’t meant to be heard. “…. I don’t know why…”

               Well he wasn’t about to let his frown mar his features for more than a moment. Quite obviously he had underestimated the cost of his actions, and not for the first time either. Blooky wasn’t nearly as outgoing as he was, and they didn’t bounce back from a slight even half as quickly either. The two of them had been so close once… how long had Blooky been left alone in this house? Did they ever talk to Shyren anymore? Visit the rest of the family? He could have guessed he knew the answer, but he wasn’t about to let his dear cousin continue on like this! Instead, Mettaton made himself as comfortable as he ever had in Blooky’s home, sitting cross-legged on the floor and picking through some of the tapes that had been strewn about. Spooktune. Cute.

               “Well, after you called me during my show I had to come, now didn’t I?” Mettaton tried a laugh and found it fell flat. Spooktune went beside its cousin; Spookwave. “It’s not every day that your number one fan calls directly.”

               It was a joke, or it was supposed to be at least. Napstablook looked about ready to phase through the wall at any instant now, and it was really quite frustrating. There was no reason to act so—so _intimidated_.

               “You… You recognized my voice? Oh no…”        

               “You’re not difficult to pick out, darling.” What was he doing so wrong? Blooky was speaking to him like he was practically a stranger and Mettaton decided right then and there that he wasn’t a fan of it. With a gloved hand he gave a decisive double tap to the worn floorboards beside him and gestured his cousin forward. “Now are you going to join me or not?”

               Finally Blooky was prompted back into action. They started with their computer, quickly shutting off the music that had been playing long before Mettaton had even arrived and then floated down to hover gingerly above the floor next to him. Mettaton couldn’t help but wonder if it had been one of Blooky’s own songs that he’d been hearing until now, but his cousin was still watching him carefully as if they thought he might up and disappear. Still hesitant, almost guarded, they probably would have been fidgeting in place if it wasn’t so impolite. This wasn’t _like_ Blooky, not like Blooky was around him at least! How long would it take for them to trust him again?

               But then it had been a long time, hadn’t it? Long enough that he’d forgotten the quiet essence that had made him love Waterfall despite its size. Long enough that he could see why Blooky might be upset, or even angry with him. But certainly not long enough to be forgotten completely! They meant more to each other than that!

               “Truth be told, I had hoped that you’d be more excited to see me.” It came out more pathetic than supercilious.

               “O-Oh. Oh no…” Naptstablook flushed a bit, fading from view as they tried to apologize. “I didn’t expect you to visit… My life isn’t very interesting.” It was a simple statement made with a little nod of their head and a glance towards the door. “If it’s too boring you don’t have to stay…”

               Well now wait just a minute. Was that a shot?! At _him_? Not to say it was _completely_ unheard of for those who knew Napstablook well enough, but the look on Mettaton’s face was incredulous enough.

               “Excuse me? Who said anything about boring?” He took a moment to will down the affront from his voice by flipping a hand through his hair and failed completely. Blooky flinched, but Mettaton didn’t catch it. “I never once inferred that you were boring. Not ever. And I’m not leaving either, not after I came all the way down here to see you. I came back to apologize to you, and I really don’t think I deserve this cold shoulder treatment you’re giving me right now – Do you have any idea how much I’ve missed you?”

               Blooky was the heart and soul of Waterfall. Home just wasn’t home without them.

               But now his darling cousin was worrying again, mouth pressed into a grim line as they tried to fade into the floorboards entirely. “Oh no… Oh no…” Large eyes flickered between him and the floor and Mettaton couldn’t help but feel a pang of guilt for his outburst.

               “Ohhh… I’m sorry Mettaton. Are… Are you sure you have the right person…?”

               And then that pang faded completely as he pursed his lips in confusion, hand coming to rest on his perfectly rounded hips. “Who else could I possibly be looking for?”

               “But...” By now Blooky looked quite ready to disappear entirely. Their voice was nothing but a whisper. “But we’ve never met…..”

               What? All too suddenly the full picture was beginning to take shape. Blooky wouldn’t meet his eyes, and they had been acting confused and nervous since the moment he’d stepped into the house. Dawning realization had a way of making his internal fans kick into overdrive, but Mettaton hoped that was just a result of the moisture in the air.

               “What are you talking about? Darling, it’s _me_.”

               Blooky didn’t say anything. And the longer they kept their eyes trained on the floor the quicker that ugly kernel of dread lodged its way under Mettaton’s plating. Frustration found its way to desperation in an instant; how had he never seen that he was losing everything?

               “Blooky!” For the first time in a long time Mettaton noticed how metallic his voice had come to sound. It wasn’t like it had been. “How do you not recognize your own cousin!”

               Three seconds. It took three seconds for Napstablook’s eyes to brim with tears, and not half a second more for Mettaton to scramble across the floor and pull them into a much needed hug. They both needed it.

               “Oh no, sweetheart! Sweetheart, don’t cry! I thought you knew!”

               It was too late for that of course, and obviously they hadn’t. Blooky leaned into him with a weight that was more emotional than physical and buried their face in his shoulder. It could have been familiar, but everything had felt so different back when he was incorporeal; nothing had felt like anything.

               Now Blooky’s tears felt like acid as they slipped down his plating. “I was… supposed to know?”

               There wasn’t a question around that could have made him feel any guiltier than that one did. But what could he do now other than pull his cousin closer and murmur comfort into the air between them.

               “Well I had hoped you would, darling.” How he ever could have left things in such a state Mettaton didn’t know. When he had left with Alphys the first time… He’d been so ready to forget his humble home. To leave behind the dreary rain, and the gloomy air, and the ‘stars’ that glistened on the cave walls destined to never be anything more than the chunks of bioluminescent rock they were. Waterfall had been stifling in those days, but Blooky _was_ home and everything that home was. He was never going to leave them behind again. “When you called in, I thought it was because you…”

               “Sorry…” Blooky hadn’t known, but they’d watched his show anyways. And now they were apologizing for the mistakes they hadn’t made.

               That hadn’t changed either. Mettaton accepted the apology with a kiss to the top of Blooky’s head. He couldn’t be sure, but he thought he felt them press their little arms against his chest before they flickered in and out of visibility again. “There’s nothing you need to apologize for, beautiful. Don’t cry.” With gentle touches he guided Blooky to lift their head until he was looking into those big watery eyes. Blooky had always had such pretty eyes, even with the tears in them. “I should have come home so much sooner than I did.” Blooky couldn’t have known how much he meant it.

White thumb eased away the fat tears from Blooky’s eyes and Mettaton found the fabric of his glove sizzled away with them. That was new. Or it had never been a problem in the past, at least. Still he bore it and the silver paint-stripped streaks down his shoulder in good grace, anything less and he’d have Blooky trying to apologize again. They weren’t the one who needed to right now.

               “I do hope you’ll forgive me darling.” All the experience in the underground on live camera and it still wasn’t enough to keep that tinny glitch out of his voice. Instinctively he took one of Napstablook’s tiny hands into his own and tried not to dwell on the significance of his own seldom seen nerves at play. It never did for any progress to acknowledge them anyways.

Blooky took their time in their answer, looking first at their clasped hands and then down to Mettaton’s lap where they had ended up. They were flushed slightly, cheeks fading to clear, and worried their lips together absently. “You were too busy… I get it.”The sigh that left Napstablook’s mouth could have broken hearts. It very nearly did his.

               “No, Blooky that isn’t it at all! I…” But what could he say? He’d left chasing at the tail of his dreams and achieved them. And he’d left Blooky all alone in the only home they had ever known. “I wasn’t thinking…”

               It would have been a far cry to expect anyone to realize just how much his corporeal body meant to him. Or how empty he had felt without it, back when the rain was dismal and the darkness was dreary, and the beauty in the world was nothing but a fade of a hue to what it was now. That would have been asking too much. Things had changed and they’d changed fast, but he didn’t expect Blooky to understand.

               And in fact Blooky was quiet for a long while. Eyes silently tracing down the lines of Mettaton’s face, his neck, his shoulders, as if they could commit it all to memory. Or maybe they were just looking for something familiar in it all.

“I really like your shows Mettaton… I watch them every day.”

               “Oh. Darling—“ They didn’t need to do that. He wasn’t going to make them. But Blooky pressed forward. They moved to place their little hand on Mettaton’s chest and any protest in him died immediately.

               There was a determination in them now. Quiet, but no less stubborn. Blooky stared at him a moment longer before offering the faintest wisp of a smile. “…I’m really glad you found something that makes you happy.”

Oh, could there ever be a star in the human’s sky that shone with even a fraction of the subtle radiance Napstablook retained? Tears were prickling at the corners of their eyes again, and it was all Mettaton could do to remember not to lean down and kiss them away. He laughed instead, and cuddled Napstablook closer to him until even the faintest of despondent sighs didn’t sound so lonely.

               “I missed you Blooky.”  He was home again.

 


End file.
